Live Wires

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Alex Fader greets the guests arriving at his mother's apartment for the annual Fader Hanukkah party. The Brienfelds arrive first, then the Zuckermans. Alex is the coat-check boy and carries all the coats down the hall to the designated bed. His mother enters the room. She reminds him of Anna Karenina. She has a radiance and charm that people instinctively move toward. The apartment has become crowded, and Alex moves from room to room, past people standing in little circles as if around campfires. He remembers, as a boy, he would bury his face in the coats. He doesn't live here anymore. Alex is worried because he invited his girlfriend, Christine Derry. Christine is eight years older than Alex and not Jewish. Christine and his mother have met several times, and they seem to connect. Both are live wires. Christine is late. Mrs. Talman asks Alex about his girlfriend. Christine arrives and her presence at the party makes Alex uneasy. She comes from a suburban Midwest background; her hair is cut short and gray. They have been together a year. Alex remembers their first meeting, at a cocktail party in which he spilled wine on her shoes. Christine is talking to Julia, who tells her she looks like one of those women in trashy books who are innocent and pure and end up sleeping with terrible men. The lighting of the candles and singing of songs are next. Then the gifts are distributed and everyone eats from the buffet. After all the guests have left, Alex does the dishes to avoid opening the gifts. He and Christine leave together and Alex reflects on the impossibility of their relationship. He is torn about leaving the warmth of the apartment he just left. Yet his departure was inevitable.